I was indifferent, and then read all of the reviews yesterday. I'm baffled by why this team of gifted musical theater artists thought this material would fly. Even at the height of the "Mad Men" craze, this film's story would've been at the end of the era. I don't see the nostalgia or the relevance. Boomers? Most of us were teens. And it wasn't the strongest story, more about the synergy of those 4 actors and their roles, and that ending. I still remember how charming "I Love My Wife" turned out, thanks to its Coleman score. And it had a fairly new take on the socioeconomics, using a mover from NJ rather than Yuppies. And with the working class atmo, it was something we hadn't seen. Sending up EST and the New Age of Northern California feels fairly re-tread. I'm baffled, and didn't find any mention of "I Love My Wife" in the reviews. Or any particularly good reviews.
Did anyone find more to like? More to relate to? Most surprising was hearing that the score is Bacharach pastiche. Since Burt's music has been part of B'way, that's confusing, too. As one review said, you can imagine it turning up in an elevator. But those kinds of songs are already in elevators. Sheik is such an iconoclast, his artistic goals here are elusive to me. |
